Fourteen people reportedly were killed Friday in a shootout between Malaysian commandos and a Filipino clan that has holed up in a Malaysian coastal village for weeks, claiming the land belongs to them. The lengthy standoff turned bloody after members of the clan started shooting at troops, who were tightening security around the village of Lahad Datu, a Malaysian police official told reporters. Twelve clan members and two Malaysian commandos were reported dead in the gunfight. “We don't want to engage them but they fired at us,” said Hamza Taib, police chief of Sabah state, in an interview with the Associated Press.

Defense attorneys representing three Filipino nationals accused of weapons smuggling failed to persuade a federal judge to toss out criminal charges against their clients based on "outrageous government misconduct. " U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin on Monday denied a defense motion to dismiss the case. During a two-week hearing, defense attorneys accused FBI Agent Charles Ro of knowingly paying for prostitutes for the defendants. While working undercover in the Philippines, Ro frequently met the defendants in karaoke clubs - where scantily clad and sometimes topless young women worked as hostesses - to discuss weapons deals, Ro testified.

WASHINGTON - For a dwindling group of aging Philippine World War II veterans, the battle to gain recognition for their service goes on. The veterans, many in their 80s and 90s, thought they had won a decades-long struggle when President Obama signed legislation in 2009 providing one-time payments for helping U.S. troops fight the Japanese. Philippine veterans who are U.S. citizens can receive $15,000, and noncitizens, including those living in the Philippines, $9,000. But more than half of the 43,083 applicants were turned down, most because their wartime service could not be verified by U.S. military records.

The bullet hit 7-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella as she gazed up at the fireworks in a Manila suburb, abruptly turning a New Year's Eve celebration tragic and ultimately ending her life. The little girl died Wednesday afternoon in a Quezon City hospital, two days after the stray bullet struck her in the head and after suffering a string of cardiac arrests, the official Philippines News Agency reported . She was among about 700 people injured in raucous and often violent celebrations in the Philippines this week, the latest in a tragic tradition in a country where police have tried to clamp down on celebratory gunfire and dangerous pyrotechnics.

LAS VEGAS -- Manny Pacquiao will smile his way to the ring Saturday night. His opponent, Juan Manuel Marquez, will glare. Pacquiao will try to beat his Mexican rival for the third time in four fights by again throwing caution to the wind with flurries of punches. Marquez will again be more calculating. Convinced he's the smarter of the two in the ring, he has strengthened his body as never before at age 39, hell-bent to impose his will and finally have his hand raised in victory against Pacquiao after suffering two agonizingly close decision losses and a draw.

A group of Filipino nurses who claimed they were mocked for their accents and ordered to speak "English only" won a nearly $1-million settlement against a Central California hospital where bosses and co-workers were allegedly urged to eavesdrop on the immigrant workers. The $975,000 settlement, announced Monday by lawyers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is believed to be the largest language discrimination settlement in the U.S. healthcare industry, according to the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.

'Book of Mormon' dinner special: In honor of the L.A. debut of “The Book of Mormon,” Wood & Vine, located across the street from the Pantages Theatre, has created a special menu for theatergoers. The prix-fixe menu includes a cheese and charcuterie plate; choice of market or beet salad; choice of fried chicken and waffle or potato gnocchi; and choice of pot de crème or cream puff. The Respect Your Elder-flower cocktail (with kumquat, gin, elderflower, lemon and Champagne) and the Latter-Day Night Fever cocktail (with passion fruit, Oronoco rum and lime)

In a smoke-stained San Francisco hotel room, Felix Starro is making fake blood. Starro is the third in a line of hucksterish Filipino faith healers. Hunched over a plastic jug in the bathroom, he brews corn syrup, water and red dye for a grim ritual known as the Holy Blessed Extraction of Negativites. As he stirs, he remembers how "long ago, Papa Felix made it the same way; because my hands were small my job was to squirt the liquid into the tiny bags and knot them up. We'd stay up all night, diligent and silent, as though our work was truly blessed and holy.

Manny Pacquiao on Thursday selected his next opponent — that is, if he fails to reach a deal for a super-bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum said. Arum declined to unveil the name of the non-Mayweather opponent, but said that fighter will be announced next week if negotiations with Mayweather aren't productive. Mayweather has called out Pacquiao to fight him May 5 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, going as far as personally calling the Filipino superstar to discuss a proposed 50-50 purse split.

To Ingrid Cruz and Rolando Pascual, the offer was enticing. They could move to the United States from the Philippines, help fill a shortage of teachers in post-Katrina Louisiana and increase their wages many times over. But things didn't go as expected, the teachers said in a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles. Cruz and Pascual contend they were among hundreds of Filipinos who took teaching jobs in the U.S. since 2007, only to be forced to pay exorbitant fees to a Los Angeles firm that helped get them their jobs.